Project Description

At Rose-Hulman we have developed curricula that use Tablet PCs and DyKnow in five courses drawn from three disciplines.  Our greatest experience has come from multiple sections of two courses that are not part of our computing curriculum:  Introductory Physics and Technical Communication.  What we have observed is that Tablet PCs and their pen-based capability cannot be exploited completely without software like DyKnow that encourages many types of collaboration – between faculty and students, between students, and between one class and another.

Thus, our project will assess and evaluate the impact of a symbiosis of hardware (Tablet PCs) and software (DyKnow) on teaching and learning.  In year 1, we will focus largely on 4 disciplines:  chemistry, mechanical engineering, physics, and technical communication.  In year 2, we will extend the assessment and evaluation to include aspects of the entire curricula at Rose-Hulman.

By the end of year 2, this interdisciplinary project will involve faculty and undergraduate students in most if not all departments at Rose-Hulman.  The unifying principle throughout the project will be our reliance on the assessment expertise of the Rose-Hulman Office of Institutional Research, Planning and Assessment (IRPA), a nationally recognized leader in the field of teaching and learning assessment.